Friday, January 9, 2009

It's freezing! All you want to do is grab a blanket and a big mug of hot chocolate, not only to warm your cold hands, but to warm your soul as well.

If that scenery sounds familiar to you, try this Peppermint mocha hot chocolate, with those leftover pepermint sticks I know you still have laying around.

I've told you before that I bought a lot of candy on my recent trip to the US. One of the things that I wanted to bring back home was candy canes, since we don't see them much around here and my cousins seem to enjoy them. But as you can see in the picture, some of them broke in my suitcase on my way back home...

Instead of beeing sad about it, I just thought I'd do something else them. And by something else, I mean hot chocolate!

PEPPERMINT MOCHA HOT CHOCOLATEMIX

6 candy canes

100 gr (3.5 oz) dark chocolate (cold)

3 tbsp expresso (or coffee) powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vanilla sugar*

1 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp chocolate (or cocoa) powder

1 cup milk powder

* I make my own vanilla sugar, by allways having a jar with sugar and dry vanilla beans, but you can use store bought or even regular sugar.

Blitz the candy canes until they're a fine powder. Set aside. Blitz the chocolate (cut in chunks before, it's easier) and add to the candy cane powder. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, I recomend a wisk for this. Store in a lidded jar.

Peppermint candy canes powder

I've made mine in a Magic Bullet, but it will also work in a food processor. Just make sure the chocolate is cold (put in the fridge for a while before blitzing) or it will melt.

To make the hot chocolate:

Put 3 tbsp of the powder in a mug and add hot milk. Mix well and enjoy! If you want you can add water instead of milk, but I prefer it with milk.

Now go get that blanket!

Oh I think I should have called it "Chocolat Chaud" instead of hot chocolate, since I really need to start practicing my french! That's right, tomorrow I'm going to Paris! I'm going to spend the weekend to celebrate my birthday, cortesy of my lovely mom! I can't wait to see all those wonderful patisseries, oh lá lá!

68 comments:

Rita...your prepping me for the weekend! There is nothing I look forward to more than being home all weekend and not stepping outside in the cold!!! The hot cocoa looks awesome! Oh, and if you ever want candy canes sent to you....tell me! I'd be more than happy to ship them. They do make a sturdier candy cane....maybe the could make it there without breaking. ;0)

Great idea for your broken candy canes! So much better than Starbucks. I like to use the blitzed candies for rimmers on cocktail glasses too. Just moisten the rim first, then dip into the powdered candy, then fill with a complementing cocktail.

Mmm, that looks like an extremely welcoming mug of chocolatey goodness [: I was wondering what I should do with leftover candy canes, and this is a perfect recipe to make with them. I don't have coffee powder or dark chocolate, so I think I will just brew strong coffee, add milk, cocoa powder, and dissolve some candy canes in it instead of dirtying my blender. It's a lazier way, but it does work!

I love this!I'd like to invite you to take some time to drop by at Foodista and share your delicious recipe with us. We have launched an online food and cooking encyclopedia ala wikipedia. Add a recipe and you can win a $100 gift card to Sur la table. Don't forget to register first so we know who to thank the recipe for. Thanks!

**Just as a heads up: I will not be able to comment on blogs as often now, during this semester, due to work overload (I'm stressed already) - PLEASE know that I'm still loyally reading, but just won't have time to comment. I hope you understand!!

i'm totally obsessed with mochas right now and am spending way too much money on them out. I'm dying to get an espresso maker at home, but until then, this looks like it might become my new habit. sounds wonderful!

Anonymous- The baking soda is not necessary, it just to give a little bit of foam on top, just like what you get from store bought mixes. It doesn't add nothing in terms of flavour so you don't need to use it. Thanks for the question.